European Premiere

Official Selection Feature

Short Synopsis:

Kakeru, and Mii are two lonely teens who cannot find their place in life but who gradually learn to relate to each other through the power of music. Featuring the songs of Galileo Galilei.

Review:

The only film in this year’s festival to be based on a song, Control Tower is the story of two lonely teenagers who bond through music. Kakeru lives an alienated and directionless life, drifting through school. When he meets serial school-transferee Mizuho however, he finds someone with whom he can connect. Discovering a guitar in storage at his house, he enlists the help of piano playing Mizuho to help him form a band.

Set against the stunning Hokkaido winter, the cinematography of this film is a thing of beauty: composition, colour and movement all complement the tender romance of the two characters. Based on the song Kanseitou, or Control Tower, by the band Galilieo Galilei, the director Miki Takahiro said he knew as soon as he heard the song in concert that he wanted to make a film from it.

Whilst the track focuses on the 100th Year Memorial Tower in Wakkanai, Hokkaido, treating it as sentinel figure that watches over the lives of the people around it, the story of the film is loosely based on the band’s own origins. Much more than just music film though, this film is a touching look at loneliness and young love that more than deserves to be seen in its own right.

Johnny Cobbles

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